The present invention relates to a pneumatic and/or fluidic module, a system and a method of manufacturing a pneumatic and/or fluidic module.
Various methods and apparatuses have been developed which utilise disposable single-use or multiple-use processing systems formed of plastics such as vinyl for accomplishing fluid processing procedures. In the medical field, for example, processing systems have been developed for executing medical tests like the lung capacity by means of spirometers or for executing blood fractionation procedures, wherein the whole blood is separated into one or more fractions by means of either a filter element or by means of centrifugation procedures. Examples of such methods and apparatuses are, e.g., disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,789 B1.
These systems generally have the drawback that the known modules are comparably expensive due to the need to carefully assemble the components of which the modules are made. Usually, the known modules either require to use special sealing means like O-ring seals or they need to apply another sealing technique like, e.g., welding, ultrasonic welding or the like. This strongly limits the possibility of cheaply assemble pneumatic and/or fluidic modules, especially by non-trained personnel, resulting in increasing costs, both related to the material and to the manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the special sealing means which are to be inserted between the components of the modules can be omitted during the process of manufacturing, resulting in a reduced tightness or leak-proofness of the modules.